The popularity of sport utility vehicles and other four wheel drive vehicles has shown a substantial increase recently. Because of the high ground clearance for these four wheel drive vehicles, the floor of the vehicle is at a higher elevation above the ground than for two wheel drive sedans or other typical passenger vehicle. Accordingly, some people experience difficulty in gaining access to and egress from the high clearance four wheel drive vehicle.
Running boards have been used to provide assistance for entering and exiting four wheel drive, or other high ground clearance vehicles. Typically, running boards have a stationary step rigidly mounted to the frame of the vehicle to provide a step between the ground level and the floor level of the vehicle. However, appropriately positioning a stationary running board to provide a convenient step for the occupant of the vehicle will normally result in a reduced ground clearance for the vehicle; therefore, stationary steps are typically positioned at a location that is too high to be convenient for the occupant. Furthermore, stationary running boards can be considered a detriment to vehicle styling as the stationary running board typically increases vehicle width and provides only a small step for use by the occupant of the vehicle.
Movable running boards have been provided, such as is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,626, issued to Patrick K. McDonald, et al on Dec. 16, 1997, in which the running board is pivotally supported on the frame of the vehicle and connected to a bell crank to pivotally move the step portion of a running board vertically between a raised retracted position and a lowered operating position. Powered movement of the running boards has also been provided, as is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,397, issued to David M. Pascoe, et al on Dec. 4, 2001. In this Pascoe patent, the running board is mounted on parallel linkages, which are coupled to an electric motor to effect a powered pivotal movement of the running board between a stored position and a deployed position. An electronic control unit is provided in the Pascoe patent to control the movement of the running board between the stored and deployed positions in conjunction with the opening of the vehicle door.
Another control device for retractable stairways on trucks and the like can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,364 issued to Paul J. Delurey, et al on Jan. 23, 2001. This Delurey control apparatus monitors one or more vehicle status conditions to require a pre-specified status before permitting an electric motor to move the powered retractable steps for a truck from a stowed position to a deployed position.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,300 issued to Raymond W. Fink, et al on Feb. 11, 1997, a bracket assembly is provided to allow a vertical positioning of a mounted member, such as a step or a running board and a flexible mounting of the bracket to a variety of frame member sizes. The Fink patent does not depict a movable running board or a control apparatus for effecting movement thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,993, issued to George R. Walker on Oct. 15, 1985, provides for an adjustable motorcycle passenger floorboard member, which can be selectively manually positioned, but is not powered and no control apparatus is utilized for the positioning of the passenger floorboard.
A floating step assembly is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,634 issued to P. Keith Potts on Feb. 10, 1981, in which the step is vertically movable through a four bar linkage controlled by a mechanical locking mechanism to fix the floating step at a selected height. A retractable vehicle access stair and elevator is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,228, issued to Edward L. Hall on Nov. 15, 1977, in which the stair apparatus is horizontally movable through the operation of a linear actuator and the elevator apparatus is vertically movable through a powered chain drive mechanism. The Hall apparatus does contemplate the use of an automatic sensing device to determine when the stair or elevator apparatus has reached a desired position.
People of different statures have different needs for the position of a running board to provide a convenient use of the running board for ingress and egress of the vehicle while permitting the running board to be stored in a retracted position that does not detract from the ground clearance of the vehicle. With power deployable running boards, no one position will allow most people to enter and exit the vehicle comfortably. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a control mechanism co-operable with the powered running board to provide the user with the ability to establish a preferred position of the running board at any selected point of travel permitted to the running board by the structure thereof, and to have this position stored in the memory of the control mechanism for retrieval at subsequent deployment events.